I am pleased to be participating in this Art Show and Sale again this year.  Things have been pretty busy for me with hanging my show “Full Spectrum” at the Imperial (still showing until November 14th).  So, I have been busily painting away for this event.

Below are three of the four paintings I will be exhibiting.   The fourth painting, well is still a work in progress.  It is a large acrylic painting of Delphinium. Stay tuned… this will most likely be my next blog post.

Friday, October 28th and Saturday, October 29th

7 Gondola Point Road

Rothesay

Hope to see you there!

Watercolor painting of pink climbing roses

Armed with green gold, olive green, perylene green and sap green I began this painting adventure.  Although the lily pads took a lot of concentration – they were fun to paint.  Monochromatic.   But fun none the less.  The little leopard frogs were trickier to scketch in than they were to paint.  Almost my favourite bits of painting are the tiny little bugs.  I had to take my glasses off to work on them.


The work in progress post is just below!

These lovely flowers grace the inside of our chicken wire fenced in garden.  We moved all our lilies into this rustic enclosure – in hopes to foil the white tail deer population that absolutely belive lily blooms are deer ice cream.  Well our plan work surperbly…well, until last year.

They have leaned longingly into the fence for a few years now – and managed to bend down a section making it easy for them to leap over.  And well, we cannot figure out how to repair it with out completely rebuilding it!

The deer love lilies.  All kinds of lilies – as much as we do.  Only we do not eat ours!  The lilies grow amoung the asparagus (which deer do not eat) and the mint (wish they would eat) and the clematis (crap shoot on this one, well they will sometimes eat the blooms).

And so, in a effort to get to enjoy these lovelies, I must paint them.  This ia a 12″  x 12″ watercolor on Arches 300lb paper.  I think as time permits I will paint this again on Ampersand Aquabord in a larger size.

I am so excited to be participating in the Kings County Studio Tour this June 9th and 10th - http://www.studiotour-nb.com/  .  This means, of course, I have to be prepared.  Now I have been painting for quite awhile getting ready for a solo exhibit “Full Spectrum” to be hung at the Imperial Theatre the end of August this year.  So I have a lot of really large paintings completed for this.  The gap I have is for smaller pieces.

So what does any artist operating under self imposed deadlines do? Why I checked my framing inventory and, this time wrote the sizes down and went searching for subjects that would be fun to paint and coordinate with my three burgundy frames and two gold ones.

Two Beez

So far so good, I have two completed and the others are lightly drawn out.  There are more petunias, a different variety, pretty lillies (I have no idea which variety) and apple blossoms.  I will be ready for any color other than pink.  Oh, by the way, I have a large painting in progress – pretty pink peonies under way as well.  More to follow on this one -just likely not too soon!

And so,  countless hours, untold amounts of staring and figuring and color balancing… I think this painting is finally done!

I knew today that it was in my reach to finish this piece.  I hunkered down at 8am and just finished it at 7pm.

I spent a lot of time deleloping the foliage.  After I thought I was all done – I looked at it with squinty eyes and realized that I had to deepen the colors of the leaves.  I went back in with a wash of terre vert (a blueish green) and intensified the leaves.  And then once again thought I was finished.

Then I looked at it again with squinty eyes.  Saw a number of the rose petal has to be deepened and some of them needed a boost of personality (more colors).

I looked at it again and thought I was finsihed.   Then I realised the tiny fly had no legs or antennae.

I fixed up the bug and hung the painting on my fridge – yes my fridge.   And am determined no more squinty eyes.

I am declaring this painting finsihed.  At least until tomorrow when I look at it with fresh eyes.

Finally finished.  This is a mixed water media piece on Arches 300lb cold pressed paper.  I have never combined acrylic and watercolor previously.  So, I have learned a lot from this process – get over yourself – use a masking solution.  I started with the sky – four watercolor washes and three in acrylic.  The incredibly stubborn part of me resits masking.  So I started with the sky, painting around the flowers – big mistake.  This left a dark ridge around the flowers – several washes later, hmmm… I had a problem to fix.

I subscribe to the theory that is isn’t anything you cannot fix.  So, I pulled out my acrylic tube of cobalt blue- mixed it with the watercolor paint I was using and it worked – only took three washes to fix it!  Did I mention that I am stubborn with this stuff?

Anyway, I love the result! On to more experimentation!

It is always an adventure when you embark to paint a series of related works.  In this case, I am experimenting with the Aquabord watereolor painting surface.  I really like the vibrancy you can achieve once you figure out how to layre  – er, actually, once you realize you have to have patience to let the layres dry completely before you apply the next one.

This is an iris from my garden and one of my favourites.  We grow a number of bearded irises – but thsi one always stops me in my tracks.  The blues are so intense and the white so crisp.

This flower reminds me of a ballgown, hence the neme “Blue Taffeta”

Ah yes, another watercolor on Aquabord.  Finally think I am getting the hang of the surface! It is almost impossible to do multiple washes or layring on it – the under colour “lifts” or worse yet – mixes with the top wash.  And yet the finished painting is absolutely vibrant.

These pansies remind me of the old fashioned ones in every country garden I saw as a child, or the old china teacup with the delightful pansies on them - hence the paintings title.

So I link it, and once I figure out a framing solution – I will let you know if I intend to purchase more.  I still will admit, for any intricate and serious work, I will always use Arched 300lb cold pressed paper. 

Oh, by the way – I think they are “bluish” not so purple?

After finishing the “Amethyst Lilac” painting, I was determined to paint somethig less complex and not purple.  Well, being who I am, gravitating towards complexity in everthing I do, I started this painting on Aquabord.  (This is burgundy with some purple….)

Aquabord is a relatively new hard surface for painting with watercolours.  The beauty of this surface is that the completed piece is sprayed with acrylic Krylon archival varnish when completed and framed without glass.  Thie piece is protected.  As so many people now prefer to purchase paintings with out glass in order to emiminate glare from lighting and windows – this is a nice option.  The main thing is, the work becomes a mixed media piece (remember the acrylic varnish?)  Oh yes, the fraing is also less expensive – less the matting and glass.  Aquabord aslo comes cradled – my next purchase will be cradled – then no framing required at all – just finish the edges!

The surface is tricky, the colour holds well, but a mis placed drop can remove the pigment. Also, when painting wet-in-wet, I find it harder to get an edge than with Arched 300lb paper.  So, I love the surface, nice for a change – but will not be giving up working on paper.

I think there should be a drum roll with this…..

This was no small undertaking. I have been working on this piece for what seems like forever and a day.  What makes this piece interesting is that the more you look at it, the more dimentional it becomes!   I went through more paint imaginable on this – I guess this is typical of large works.  Always makes me marvel though.  Watercolours are seemilgly endless in thier supply until you take on a full sheet.

I am ready to retire the mauves… for at least another painting or three. I have already started an iris – shades of ivory, burgundy and a little bit of mauve.

This painting is a full sheet transparent watercolour of lollypop lilies from my garden. This is one of my favourite flowers. I love the cranberry tips on the petals and the subtle ivory/white shades of this lily and the way the sun spots create litle highlights. This painting took a very long time to complete.

I have painted similar versions in acrylic twice – I this this flower called out to be created again only this time in watercolor

This is an acrylic painting of blanket flowers in my garden. This painting seemed to go on and on forever. Layer afer layer of transparent washes to get the intense colours. But in the end – I am glad that I stayed with it. It reminds me of a garden party.

I originally saw these flowers while at a painting plein air art event in Hampton, NB -I searched garden centers until I found some to purchase.

My husband and I make wine – and every year we make a summer wine, usually a blush. One of the most appealing characteristics of summer wines are in it’s beautiful colours. Soft yet distinct shades of raspberry, pinks and soft wines shades.

This lovely bloom is a tree peony that grows in the corner of our garden off our pergola. It is beautifully custom framed, double matteted with a wine coloured inner mat. This is the second full sheet watercolour that I have painted. Truly a labour of love. Framed size is 28 x 38″.